Detention Delayed
by boshrocks
Summary: Derek's stuck in detention. He hears something that makes him realise something. Songfic ONE-SHOT. DASEY, because they deserve to be together.


Derek sighed as he tipped his chair back lazily

Derek sighed as he tipped his chair back lazily. He was in detention, again. Not that he cared in the slightest but there was a big hockey match on at the moment that he really wanted to see. Edwierdo was taping it for him so he'd just have to settle for watching it when he got home.

Casey, he knew, was also still in school. She had to wait for him as they rode to and from school together. She would be angry about the detention, and he knew that she would deliver the lecture on the way home. She always did. She wanted him to be more responsible, more thoughtful, more considerate, less of a jerk, cleverer, and generally more like her, just not to her extremes.

He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he thought she had a point. This is why he started helping her out of tight spots and backing her up. He was trying to show her, in a way that wasn't publicising it, that he was trying to change. But she was seemingly oblivious. See, he was trying to be smarterer.

She was always yelling at him for something and, usually, he was doing a lot of yelling back. It wasn't that he hated her, far from it, it was just that they got on each others nerves.

No he didn't hate his stepsister. He didn't quite know where to put her. Lizzie was as much his little sister as Marti was. Nora was a decent mother substitute. But Casey? She didn't fit the sister role. He'd never been able to see her as a sister, and yet she was the one person who could get under his skin and the one person he kept admitting things to. Somehow she had a way of making him confess secrets that he hadn't shared with anyone. Not his, gulp, girlfriend, Kendra. Not his brother. Not his best friend. Casey. Just Casey.

He'd been thinking about her a lot. She started popping into his dreams at night and his daydreams gave her a leading role that was worthy of the Best Actress Oscar. She wasn't his stepsister, he just couldn't see her as that. In his dreams she was just like any other girl. In his dreams he saw past her little imperfections, saw past her keener personality and saw instead her beauty and grace. She wasn't hot, she was beautiful.

In real life Casey always said that if a guy couldn't handle her at her worst then he didn't deserve her at her best. Derek was the one person she wasn't afraid to yell at. She wasn't afraid of revealing the darker side of her personality. Not to him.

He didn't know what his feelings meant, just that they had changed. And he knew that he had changed too, but in a good way.

As he was musing this, the sound of simple piano playing through the school halls caught his bored ears. The melody was slow, somewhat mournful. Something about it caught Derek's attention, although he wasn't sure why.

Detention was almost over so he figured it was safe to investigate. Quietly he slipped through the deserted corridors, hearing the music growing louder. It stopped and then started from the beginning as he drew near.

Looking through the glass in the door of one of the music rooms he saw that the musician was Casey, but her back was facing him so she didn't notice him. This surprised him, he didn't know she could play the piano. Then she began to sing, and her beautiful voice floated out to where Derek stood, watching mesmerised. He opened the door a little to hear her more clearly.

Casey just sang on.

Hands touch, eyes meet  
Sudden silence, sudden heat  
Hearts leap in a giddy whirl  
He could be that boy  
But I'm not that girl.

Don't dream too far  
Don't lose sight of who you are  
Don't remember that rush of joy  
He could be that boy  
I'm not that girl.

Ev'ry so often we long to steal  
To the land of what-might-have-been  
But that doesn't soften the ache we feel  
When reality sets back in.

Blithe smile, lithe limb  
She who's winsome, she wins him  
Gold hair with a gentle curl  
That's the girl he chose  
And Heaven knows  
I'm not that girl.

Don't wish, don't start  
Wishing only wounds the heart  
I wasn't born for the rose and the pearl  
There's a girl I know  
He loves her so  
I'm not that girl.

Oh my god, Derek thought, what a beautiful song. Did she write that? Gold hair with a gentle curl? Kendra?

He heard Casey sigh as she finished playing the song. And he felt the emotion in that sigh. She felt the song, she always said you had to feel what you sing; that's why musicals exist, as an outpouring of emotion.

How sad she must be at the moment. Derek wanted to say something, something to cheer her up, to let her know that it was alright. Let her know that she wasn't the only one who felt hopeless at their situation, but something like the common sense he attributed to belonging to Casey told him not to; just in case it wasn't about him.

It could have been about Max; the bastard having got back together with his ex girlfriend Amy only a few hours after dumping poor Casey. Amy was blonde. But her hair was strait, not curly. Or it could be about Sam; he was now dating Casey's best friend Emily, and Emily had very curly hair, but it was brown. No…Kendra was the only person it could be describing.

Which meant the song was about him, Derek.

It only took a moment after this realisation hit him to make him also realise that he truly felt that way about her too.

He tried to get his body to move and do something. But his body refused to cooperate. He tripped over his own feet, fell forwards and pushed the door open completely.

Casey screamed and leapt up from her absorbed reverie, turned and saw him pulling himself back up by the doorframe.

"Derek! What the hell are you doing here?" she yelled. Derek could see her red rimmed eyes and saw the tear tracks down her face.

"I'm sorry, Case. I just came to find you since detention's over." He apologised.

"How long were you standing there?" she sounded scared.

"A little while." He admitted.

She blushed fiercely and glanced sideways at the music on the piano stand. "You heard my song?" she whispered.

"Yes. Did you really write that song?"

Casey nodded, eyes now firmly fixed on the floor.

"It's good. Really good." Derek said gently. "Who is it about?"

Casey glanced around the room, she seemed to be fighting with herself. After a while she closed her eyes as though in pain. "Wasn't it obvious?" slowly she raised her eyes to gaze into his. "It's you. And me. And us."

"I thought so." Derek whispered. "I'm glad. It made me realise that the only girl I have ever loved is you and I was a fool for not realising it sooner."

For a moment Casey's face was deadpan. And then a smile broke free. It was like the sunshine fighting though the rain clouds, determined to beam through. She collected her music and bag and then walked out of the room. Pausing in the doorway she gave Derek a quick but tender peck on the lips, smiled again and said "See you in the car." Before passing him and walking down the corridor with a slight wiggle in her hips.

Derek watched her go, grinning away, before taking his cell phone out of his pocket and dialling a number. "Kendra, no arguments, we're through. Find someone else to cling to."


End file.
